I think there are several definitions of scalping but to me it means taking very small profits in a fast moving market, perhaps using high leverage to make it worthwhile, kind of like jumping on and off a moving train! That screenshot looks similar to an automated system I tried out a while back but it was on a 1min chart. Buy if the previous bar closed up or sell if it closed down with a trailing stop just above/below the previous bar's high/low. It was so simple and worked great for a while but then got whipsawed and wiped out in a particularly lengthy ranging period. I was thinking of trying it again on a longer time frame but never got round to it. Automating a system like that would be vital I think, it's time consuming and very intense plus the discipline needed must go off the scale! No-one holds the monopoly for profitable trading methods that's for sure, if it makes money then who can argue it's wrong or idiotic!
Hell yes, and maybe introduce some sort of filter or tweak the system as time and testing progresses. It's hard to avoid curve fitting without a big enough sample but you sound like you know what you're doing! I'm all for simple strategies, nothing worse than over-analysis paralysis!
Which pairs did you trade with that system? GBP/JPY seems to have a massive range and give decent trends, but the spread is wider so theres a tradeoff there.
Eur/Usd just because of spread but that was a while ago, spreads have generally come down on the bucketshop platforms which might open up other pairs, or trading it through an ECN would probably be cheaper. I agree about Gbp/Jpy, but it can be extremely volatile, nice trends though if you can survive/avoid the whipsaws. If you're into automating stuff I have a strategy that could probably be automated, it's fairly mechanical and what I use for intraday manual trading. I've been a bit cautious asking anyone to program it because if it can be automated I wouldn't want to see it for sale which is what seems to happen to some of these systems. I got a glimpse of an automated system last year, it really was awesome to watch. Not for sale obviously, the guy was guarding it with his life! Just goes to show that there are automated systems out there which work well but that we never get to hear about let alone see.
You know when I was designing my system for stocks I spoke to alot of what I would regard as top traders. They all designed their own systems. It seems that its a forex thing that people trade other people's systems? I could never do it. The only way you can have confidence in a system is that you designed it yourself and you know it inside out. You know how it makes money, and perhaps more importantly, you know when it will stop making money. And most of these "free" systems, or the ones available on Ebay for $69.95 (lol) are to be traded on MT4. This platform is becoming more popular because of its use on the automated trading championships. BUT i don't think its designed for real professionals. Your comment about the accuracy of its backtesting tools confirms this for me. Real professionals don't sell or buy systems. They create their own. And they generally don't use "free" software. There is no such thing as a free lunch. By the way, there are some traders offering their own programming services. PM me if you are interested. Some of these guys are so pro, they would have no need for your system or mine. And they will maintain confidentiality of your system because they wouldn't want to ruin their name or reputation.
lol, yes eBay for 69.95 and become rich in 4 weeks, a bargain! Couldn't agree more about systems, if I'm going to screw up I rather it was with my system than someone else's, at least then I would know why! I use MT4 for charting simply because I haven't found anything better so far. My charting needs are fairly simple so as long as there's a Fibonacci tool on it and the feed is reliable I'm happy. For automating a system I was thinking about going to (dare I say it) FXCM. They're a bucket shop for sure but they have a useful service called 'Systems Desk' which hosts and monitors automated systems. There's a discussion forum if you're interested http://www.fxprogrammers.com/forum/ and if not you may pick up a few tips anyway. I'll drop you a PM about programmers, thanks.